BARCELONA.- The immense canvas The Battle of Tetouan (1863 – 1865), realised by Marià Fortuny, has become an icon of our cultural imagination. On occasion of the 175th anniversary of the artist’s birth, the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya joins the acts of commemoration with an exhibition providing the viewer with a range of perspectives in understanding the richness and complexity of this great composition. More than 130 pieces occupy the space where Fortuny’s great work has been displayed since 2004.

The first section of the exhibition highlights the preparatory drawings of the work, drawings belonging to the collection of the Museu Nacional and the Institut Municipal de Museus de Reus. A further space has been dedicated to ‘The Battle of Wad-Ras’, also by Fortuny, complimented by a watercolour study of Tetouan by the painter and a selection of photographs by Enrique Facio. The second part of the exhibition presents a graphic chronicle of the history of the painting: the processes of intervention, translations and changes of location, etc.

A further section is dedicated to Salvador Dalí, author of a version of the Battle of Tetouan which was exhibited alongside the homonymous work by Fortuny in the Saló del Tinell in the year 1962.

A series of photographs of Dalí’s work and some of his preparatory drawings recall this event. In addition, the exhibition features major loans from important public and private collections, like those of the Real Biblioteca de Madrid, the Fundación Lázaro Galdiano, el Museo Nacional del Prado or the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí of Figueres.